Steven Spielberg: 'Jeremy Irvine could be the next Christian Bale'

Steven Spielberg has said that his War Horse star Jeremy Irvine has the potential to become the next Christian Bale.

Spielberg spoke to journalists at the UK press conference for War Horse about newcomer Irvine and Bale, who made his movie debut in the director's 1987 drama Empire of the Sun.

"I'm very accustomed to working with actors who have no experience," Spielberg said.

"You can just look back at E.T. with Drew Barrymore, and Christian Bale from Empire of the Sun, who'd never made a movie before. [He's] very similar to the history and career that could be in store for Jeremy.

"I really trust the authenticity of real people and my job is to get them to be themselves in front of the camera. Often what happens is, you'll get a newcomer in front of the camera and they'll freeze up or imitate other performances they've admired. My job as the director is just to always return them to what I first saw in them, which was simply an uncensored human being."

On his reasons for casting 21-year-old Irvine, Spielberg said: "Nobody had the heart of spirit or the communication skills that Jeremy had, even in silence without speaking. Even in his crewed video tape test that we did through our casting director Jina Jay, every time I saw him - he tested five times - he just got better and better and better."